SUMMIT TWP - If a person didn't know better, they might mistake Hageng Gold's description of Helen McDowell as the joyful talk of a proud parent.

"Helen gets more nutrition because she likes everything," Gold said recently, attesting to McDowell's intake of a wide variety of healthy foods.

"I think she's amazing. … I love her," Gold said, going on to praise the 100-year-old's strength, self-reliance - even her impeccable posture.

Although Gold is not McDowell's parent, the two women have come to be like family through the domiciliary, or dom care, program in Butler County.

Screened and monitored by the state through the Butler County Area Agency on Aging, dom care providers offer room and board, housekeeping and laundry services for people unable to live without help but who don't require nursing home care.

Although dom care providers offer basic assistance with personal care and other activities of daily life, they can also offer more customized services: Gold said she will sometimes set and style McDowell's hair between salon appointments and help her apply makeup before outings.

Also providing dom care for another woman, Gold said she reads her clients the Bible each day and, in the case of the other woman, Gold reads the Bible in Korean, the client's native language.

Although McDowell said some benefits can come from the more populated atmosphere in assisted living or personal care homes, including "many opportunities for fellowship," she is happy to live in a dom care home.

"I did first of all live in a personal care home," McDowell said. "But then, after I was there a little while, I realized I would like the care provided by dom care," she said, explaining how life with Gold allows more flexibility in her day-to-day needs and activities.

"Of course, I try not to be a pest," she said of her desire to respect Gold's time.

Diane Stevens, information and referral specialist at the Area Agency on Aging, said although some people are choosing dom care over more institutional settings, the program has not been widely publicized. As a result, the number of certified providers currently outweighs demand for the service.

Although cost can play a role in determining care decisions, Stevens said the state-subsidized cost for dom care is slightly less than the housing alternatives for senior citizens who cannot live alone but who don't require nursing home care.

Assisted living facilities cost between $2,000 and $3,000 per month, said Stevens - with personal care homes costing slightly less than $1,000. The cost of dom care is less than $900, she said - with clients retaining a higher percentage of the state subsidy as spending money.

While personal care facilities often house between eight and 10 residents, they sometimes contain as many as 50, said Stevens. Since dom care homes are allowed only three residents, the homelike setting is sometimes preferred by some clients.

"These people go on vacation with their clients," Stevens said. "There are a lot of people who camp," she said of the long-term bonds that often form between caregiver and client.

"You're not going to find a personal care home taking them camping," she said.

CHERYL DICKEY OF BUTLER, a dom care provider for 15 years, can speak first-hand of the bonds that form between client and provider. Pointing to a collage of family photographs in her den recently, Dickey identified the man she housed before her current client of nine years.

"He had a stroke while he was here," she said. "He was in the VA for two years and at Sunnyview for two years," she explained, noting she visited him every day during that four-year period, even though he was no longer officially a client.

"He had no family. I became his family," she said, telling how the man had been part of family weddings and other important functions.

Her current client, 57-year-old Conrad Weser, said he has also meshed well with Dickey's family, complete with the expected ups and downs of family life.

"Conrad is a remarkable man," she went on, explaining how early on she encouraged him to get involved in his community. "Sometimes I get really mad at him and I scold him (for not giving more to his community)," she said, telling how the conversations have led to his many volunteer efforts. Last year, she added, Weser was recognized with a Catholic Charities Mary DeMucci Service Award.

"We are so proud of him," she said of herself and the other family members.

Weser said in addition to being welcomed into Dickey's family, the downtown location of their residence has allowed him the option of walking to his various activities.

"I like it better because I can come and go as I please," he said of living in Dickey's dom care home. "There are limitations, but they are set up so they benefit me."

Stevens said the process of matching dom care clients and providers begins after face-to-face interviews between the Area Agency on Aging, the clients and their families. Sometimes family physicians are involved to help assess needs of the client, who must be mobile or semi-mobile, maintain bowel and bladder control and consent to living with a family.

Homes are certified annually by the agency, as well as by the county fire inspector. Providers undergo background checks and must maintain current first aid/CPR training, as well as current homeowner's insurance.

Providers are monitored on an ongoing basis by workers assigned to each client. For more information on the dom care program, call 724-282-3008.